City and Beach, c. 1950

silver print on paper

Categories:

Almost every morning Harry Callahan would walk the city he lived in, Chicago, and take numerous pictures. He would then spend most of the afternoon making proof prints of the day’s best negatives. Inspired by his own everyday surroundings, Callahan would focus on and celebrate that which was considered commonplace. His ability to find beauty and the unexpected in the banal influenced generations of photographers to consider their day-to-day lives and environments worthy subject matter for art making. City and Beach is indicative of Callahan’s walking tours and his mastery of employing the technique of double exposure to create mesmerizing images of conflated opposites and incongruous pairings.